Fall of an Arrow
by IceBubble
Summary: Gimli and Legolas are about to leave Middle Earth and something unexpected happens...
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Surprises, Surprises…

_Disclaimer: This is an after-story of The Lord of the Rings, by J. R. R. Tolkien. He has copyrighted the characters except the ones I made up. _

_(To see what happened to all of the LOTR characters before this story, see LOTR Afterthoughts. This is building off of what is described there and it is recommended that you at least skim through it before reading this. Also, the timing is not exactly right here. Legolas and Gimli did not actually leave in the books until Aragorn died, but that would take away from the story. Sorry, a few things like that might be a little off. Forgive small mistakes please, and R&R!)_

Legolas and Gimli talked and laughed as they strode through the forest. The leaves and branches cast strange shadows on the two

friends, and the cool breeze shifted the patterns of light. They were approaching the river Anduin, and spray from the water hit their much

differing faces. The water seemed to favor the dwarf for beads of spray were gathering on his beard. Gimli was finishing an impression of

Gandalf, complete with riddle speech and odd choices of words. The trees parted and showed the rushing river. It was, as Pippin pit it, "Running

along as fast as the children ran after we set off that enormous firework at Bilbo's party!" He had also said that he wouldn't have come any

nearer to the river than to Old Man Willow. He had been around young hobbits at the time, and loved talking about his adventures in front of

them. He had laughed and refused to sail with them to Valinor. He was still only 50 years old, and had quite a life still to live in Middle Earth.

They stepped onto the gray ship they had together built, tied up on the bank of the river. Legolas swung up onto the top of the mast. His

elf-eyes saw the Shire to one side of his looking point, with children staring up wide-eyed at Pippin's storytelling. In Minas Tirith, Arwen was

sleeping soundly in a silver tree and mumbling something that sounded vaguely like "hoom, hoom…" He wondered what that was about.

Aragorn stood in a watch tower, gravely eating a pastry as he surveyed the land. For a moment, their eyes seemed to meet, though they were

many miles apart. Aragorn's face softened and seemed to show a bit of sorrow as he realized he was gazing at the point where his dearest

friends were departing. "Good bye, my friends," he whispered. , though he could not know that Legolas could see him. He knew it was absurd,

since he was going to sail away from Middle Earth, but Legolas felt that he would see Aragorn again…

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Gimli's call of, "Oi, Legolas! Where can I find some food on this ship? Twas' you who put it

away and I'm quite hungry!" Legolas dropped down from the mast and pointed out the food hold, hinting that they should use it sparingly.

He had forgotten that Gimli could not take the most obvious hint in the world if it pertained to saving food. Gimli settled down on a crate of

apples and began to chow down on the first week's worth of food. "Why did the laddie say he was not coming?" he inquired between

mouthfuls. Legolas smiled. Only Gimli would think of food as they departed from their home forever and call the king of Gondor laddie.

"Arwen is recovering from being ill, and he wants to be there if something goes wrong," replied Legolas. Both where quiet for a moment.

Even though Gimli was semi-absorbed in his food, he knew that Aragorn was lying. Arwen had never been sick. He knew that Legolas

secretly thought that she had just wanted to be away from the world of men for a few days. She had been quiet for a while, and then been

all right. Nothing serious had ever happened, and they both knew that nothing could go wrong when there was nothing to recover from.

Gimli thought for a moment, and then decided that Aragorn did not want to see his two dearest friends leave him forever. He did not

know what his reaction could be, and emotion could be seen as weakness from the point of view of a passerby. He was about to ponder

this further, but noticed a delicious looking basket of fruit and went back to his eating.

Legolas knew what Gimli was thinking. He had other things on his mind though, like actually getting around to leaving instead of just

sitting on the boat all day. "Let us sail, Gimli. We do not want to miss the sunset from the Gray Havens," he said over his shoulder as he walked

to untie the boat. As he stepped down to the post, he couldn't help remembering all of the adventures he had had in Middle Earth and faintly

wishing that he could stay. But he knew that his father was in Valinor, as well as all of his kin. Even he, a quite respectable and wise elf, privately

thought to himself that relatives could be a bit troublesome at times. At least his best friend would be with him… At that point he nearly tripped

over the rope. He swiftly turned it into a leap and hastily untied the knot. Even now, as best of friends, he knew that falling face-flat into the mud

would cause some laughter from Gimli. He stepped back onto the boat. He drew his bow from his back and an arrow from his quiver to do a

salutatory shot for sailing to Valinor. He bent his bow, aimed right at the sun, and shot the arrow sailing into the sky. He turned and started to go

and steer. It was when he heard his arrow meet a mark and something fall from the sky that he stopped.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: "Uglier than a…"

_Disclaimer: I don't own Lord of the Rings. Or the people. Or the places. Or the… Well, I think you get the point._

_Sorry If my posts are a bit slow, school is starting and I have too much homework for any sane person to handle. Thank goodness for the weekends._

"Gimli, draw your axe!" Gimli shot up and tripped over a bag of lembas wafers in his haste , but in an instant he was up again . Legolas leaped over the edge of the boat and landed just on the bank of the rushing river .

Gimli hastily unravelled a coil of rope and tossed an end to the elf, who had just enough time to tie it to a sturdy tree before- "Hoom , Hoom! What's this ? A rope around my middle? Well, let's not be hasty. Young elf-child, what is this rope?"

Treebeard unwound the rope and held it up. Legolas was lost for words. He was just about to stutter out an explanation when he was cut off by Gimli's shout of, "Legolas! That creature you shot rests on the other side of the river! It looks like a-" "Hoom! My! A dark creature?"

Treebeard stepped across the river , with Legolas clutching a branch, in three huge strides. They soon came to the other side of the river and could see the animal that Legolas had shot down.

It resembled a snake with wings, and was mixed colors of dirty browns and greens that blended into the ground. It's face was grotesque. It resembled an orc on a bad hair day with jagged teeth, a crooked nose, and lopsided eyes.

One was beady and seemed to flash around, changing places by the second. The other eye was huge and stayed constant, looking straight ahead of its face. They felt like the two eyes were prying into them.

Treebeard staightened up and called to Gimli, forcing Legolas to drop to the ground. Gimli was then faced with a problem a bit more trivial than the monster- how to get down from the boat and on to the bank of the river.

Gimli eyed Legolas, then decided that he would have to make the jump; there was no getting around it. The mustered all his courage, made a dignified leap-

And landed flat in the water. Treebeard drew him up and held him down face to face with the monster. He could smell the acrid breath and see every disgusting wart on it's face. "Why, it's uglier than a-"

"Gimli! We'd all be better off if nobody hears whatever you were about to all this monstrosity. Dwarves are not known for having gentle tounges," Legolas whispered to his friend and strode over to the creature.

Water flowed sparingly onto the riverbed, and when the splashes returned to the river, they were dyed a murky color. It was soon plain to see the branding of ashy letters onto the creatures back- Melkor.

Gimli was nonplussed, and thumped back onto the ground to delve into this deepest memories. Even Legolas could not draw from his mind the meaning of the word. Only Treebeard, Oldest of creatures living on Middle Earth, could take meaning from the letters.

"Melkor. Morgoroth. Oh dear, this means great trouble. Great trouble indeed. This name has not been heard since I was an Enting, before Sauron was ever strong in Middle Earth. How shall this go, great evil is again in Middle Earth," Treebeard began muttering to himself.

Legolas stirred at the name of Morgoroth. "In Khazad Dum, as Mithrandir fought the evil monster, he cried 'Balrog of Morgoroth.' Could this creature not have been a great deal more vicious?"

"Who is Mogoroth anyway? A servant of Sauron? If so, he is great indeed. This shall be quite difficult with not the resources of before," Gimli murmurred in reply.

Treebeard slowly shook his head. "Elf, you are quite right. This could have been much more evil. I cannot see why this was all that was sent by him from his dark depths. For the dwarf is wrong. It is, indeed ,the other was around. Sauron himself was a very minion of Morgoroth."

"He is the lord of evil, the blackest thing ever to exist. He cannot be killed, for he is not a man. He was not foolish as Sauron and pour all his power into an object. He is full and well; a spirit. He lives in the depths of the earth, and has undoubtedly come to finish what Sauron started."

"Hoom, hoom. We must not expect to be so lucky this time. This assault will be many times more powerful." Legolas and Gimli were frozen. Men alone could not take such strengths.

After a few moments, Legolas said,"We must go to Minas Tirith and warn Aragorn. He must know long in advance as possible." Treebeard lifted up both the elf and the dwarf and set off for the City of Kings. Gimli whispered something foul as the apple he had been saving fell from his pocket.


	3. Quite Safe Indeed

**Chapter Three: Quite Safe Indeed**

Disclaimer: I will make it simple. Everything that you recognize is not mine.

(Sorry about the short chapters, I like them better that way even if they drive people crazy. Goes for more recent posts. Thanks for good reviews, Arodiel!)

Legolas and Gimli soon realized that Fangorn was taking them along the Entwash, on which they had intended to sail along to get to the main body of Anduin.

They had come from their journeys to the Shire, to bade farewell to the adoring hobbits, (who had made such a fuss that the keepers of the Gray Havens would have heard them if they were much louder) and then gone on to Rivendell.

Now that Elrond was gone, Arwen and Aragorn kept it as a bit of a hideout when they wanted to be away from the stressful and chaotic men and visit the simple lives of the hobbits. They had come down from Minas Tirith to say goodbye to their old friends and allies.

They had gone on through the Misty Mountains, visiting Gimli's kin who had come down to the mountains near there, and then gone on to Mirkwood so Legolas could see his home. They passed through Lothlorien as well, but went around Fangorn at Gimli's request.

They then came to Entwash, which they were traveling beside. Fangorn told ancient tales about… well, something or other. He was speaking in a gruff, worried voice.

The two passengers soon gave up on discerning his words and began to talk quietly to each other about what was to come, believing that for now they were safe on their way. (Yeah right.)

"A greater evil than ever has been, eh? Well Sauron was quite bad enough, if you ask me. All the men in Middle Earth could not battle such a force, with not other races to help them."

"You are right, Gimli. Hey shall need the all the aid they can muster. There will be no elves, though. The dwarves must come out from their mountains and join the wars."

"Indeed they must, but your voice is doubtful. They certainly will come, for lore tells that they were made in Middle Earth and now will do all that is in their power to preserve her beauty," Gimli said a bit angrily.

Legolas gave him a sharp glance and went on. "Where were they, then, in the battle not to long ago? I seem to recall it was rather important."

"You know perfectly well that they had problems of their own, namely goblins. Who, by the way, are mainly extinct now. We shall make fine warriors."

Hearing that they had both began to raise their voices, and seeing that Fangorn was glancing up at them, he decided to turn the subject a bit. "I don't see the hobbits being of much help, though."

Legolas laughed quietly. "They may seem harmless, my friend, but when they are angry… We shall just say that little people can do great things if they have a strong enough motive."

Gimli recalled their defeating of Saruman and smiled. "Indeed, if their simple little lives are at all disturbed, they will do anything to get it back to normal."

"And then go back to living like nothing ever happened," Legolas whispered with a grin. "I hear they've quite taken to our game of—"

Gimli could say no more. Legolas drew his bow and Gimli his axe, but Treebeard hadn't seemed to notice. He was supposed to be the wisest and most learned of all beings, how could he be calmly accepting the arrival of a group of evil beings?

They resembled Balrogs, but with water instead of fire dripping from their dark limbs. Their great black bodies had strong forest green vines at wrapped around them, which looked like they could crush a mountain with no effort at all.

Water flowed from their mouths and fingertips with a foul smell that reminded them of the hobbits' sewage lot after a particularly large feast.

"Hoom, we seem to have a bit of a problem."


End file.
